Installation Notes for Giocoso 3 on Elementary OS

If there is a prize for the Linux distro that most resembles macOS, then elementaryOS would likely win it hands down! This long-time Linux and Windows user would describe it as having an idiotic child-like dock and all the window controls on the wrong side... but that's how I'd probably describe macOS too! It's an odd Ubuntu-based distro, too, in that you are asked to pay for it when you download it, with the default price appearing to be US$20. Fortunately (from my cheapskate point of view!), there's an option to enter a 'custom' amount for the "purchase"... and zero is a perfectly acceptable custom amount! So you need spend nothing to take it for a spin.

At the time of writing, the distro is listed 15th in popularity in the Distrowatch page hit counter, which I find surprisingly high... but interest in a distro isn't the same thing as actually buying it and using it as a daily driver! I personally find it quirky and peculiar (and mac-like) enough to avoid it like the plague... but I also felt I owed its users the ability to run Giocoso, so Giocoso on that distro is supported!

I installed version 7.1 'Horus' with the Pantheon desktop environment into a Proxmox virtual machine (2 threads, 4GB RAM, 32GB virtual hard disk): it's the only distro I've met that puts up a warning against installing in a virtual machine on the grounds that things 'might freeze' or run slowly in random fashion, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence!

The Giocoso installation goes without fuss or drama, however, so the new is not all bad! Moreover, the program runs as intended, including with in-terminal graphics displaying correctly:

I did notice the occasional lag re-drawing the main program window whenever switching between menu items (say, Play to Database Management). It was only a slight lag (and could be down to the feeble nature of my virtual machine more than anything else). It didn't affect the general usability of Giocoso, however, let alone the program's music-playing functionality, so it's a decent enough platform on which to run Giocoso for all that.